Xanadu Quantum Technologies Limited ((", Xanadu", , TSX:XNDU), a leading photonic quantum computing company, and ASML, a leading supplier to the semiconductor industry, today announced a collaboration to develop advanced lithography processes for Xanadu’s photonic quantum hardware. This collaboration aims to enable both companies to gain deeper insight into how advanced lithography innovations can help reduce optical losses in quantum computing chips, accelerating the industry's path toward utility-scale quantum computing (USQC).

Quantum hardware needs to be fault-tolerant and error-corrected to address large-scale computational problems. For photonic quantum hardware, reducing optical loss is an important technical challenge on the path toward fault-tolerant operation and error correction. Optical loss in photonic quantum processors can be influenced by line edge roughness (LER), which is affected by lithography and related process conditions. Through this collaboration, Xanadu and ASML will explore lithography-enabled process approaches that may contribute to improved patterning control and lower-loss photonic structures.